Another Visit to the Wild Animal Sanctuary

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keensburg with our friends Gail and Mick. It was a perfect afternoon for a visit, sunny and a bit cool. The animals had been fed just prior to our arrival and some were eating while we were there, but most were just enjoying the sunshine and a beautiful autumn day.


The obvious pleasures of a nap in the sunshine:















Or just hanging around enjoying the day:


















Enjoying a meal:









We did see animals other than tigers, but most are further away and more difficult to photograph. Here are two pictures I did manage:

Romeo, a beautiful mountain lion

leopard

And of course, we had a wonderful time watching the animals and enjoying the day:

Trip to the Mid-South

A few pictures taken on our recent trip to Alabama and Tennessee


Cart and table rode in the backseat...



...with a lot of other stuff!

Trunk packed up tight


Assembling our travelling system in Huntsville

Joe and the assembled "Traveller" in our Huntsville classroom


Joe gets his foot wet at David Crockett State Park in TN


Beautiful totem poles at the entrance to the Northwest Passage exhibit at the Memphis zoo

Joe in an observation bubble at the end of a sea lion tank in the Northwest Passage exhibit

Joe poses beside a Polar Bear sniffing crack outside the bears' enclosure



Joe, Pat and Nita enjoying some Hawaiian shaved ice


Tigger and Mama K relaxing at home


Made the trip from Memphis to Loveland in 25 hours, with Joe driving every mile of it!


this sign at a Colorado truckstop was full of birds coming and going


I think most of them were starlings already sporting their spotted winter plumage









My new camera does a great job taking pictures from a moving vehicle, as these pictures illustrate

Trip to Keenesburg

Last evening Joe, my mom and I headed for Keenesburg to visit the Wild Animal Sanctuary during one of the twilight visits open on summer weekends. We arrived shortly after they opened at 6 and stayed until a rainstorm moved in about 8. It was a lovely evening on the prarie, overcast and cool with a slight breeze that was enough to keep the mosquitos from biting.

Most of the animals were asleep when we arrived,although we were greeted by 2 of the wolves howling when we pulled into the parking lot, so the visit started on a very rewarding note. (The wolf and bear enclosures are partly visible from the parking lot and entrance to the sanctuary.) As the sun moved lower in the sky, many of the animals began to wake up and walk around, one of the benefits of an evening visit.

Here are a couple of leopards relaxing in their enclosure:





Also some tigers, note how they dig out a spot to lie in:

Some of the tigers were cooling off in the water:

this one is just emerging from a dip in his stock tank

and this one spent some time lazing in the tiger pool

Romeo the mountain lion was sitting on his concrete shelter slowly waking up as sunset approached. We could hear and see some of the other mountain lions (including Dixie) as they woke up, but Romeo's enclosure is really the only one close enough for decent pictures:

Romeo is an exceptionally beautiful cat!

It was awhile after we arrived before the lions started waking up and moving around. Here is one of the first ones to stir, a male who ambled over to the tank and took a good long drink:

Didn't get any pictures of the servals this trip, although we did spend some time watching them and admiring their beauty. Their enclosure is shaded by trees and there wasn't enough light for a clear picture.

So glad we went, we always enjoy our trips to the Wildlife Sanctuary in Keenesburg.

6th St Flowers

Joe and I took a walk down 6th St to the Post Office this afternoon. Here are some flowers we encountered along the way:


Yucca



beautiful yellow rose


poppies


don't know what the red flowers are...


yarrow


red poppies with black spots


very pretty purple flowers


California poppies gone to seed


pretty pink wild roses


Sweet William (?) with a poppy


same as the pretty purple flowers, but pink


love the pale shades on this plant's flowers and leaves



bachelor's buttons

None of the flowers in our yard are in bloom at the moment, but the neighborhood is just full of flowers to enjoy!